Let’s Talk Companions

If you haven’t seen any Doctor Who shows then be warned SPOILERS BELOW!

We just bid a fond and tearful farewell to the Ponds. While the Ponds are my first companions, they are not the first to travel in the TARDIS. The Doctor has had many companions, but for now, I am focusing mainly on the current show. So, who are these people and what makes one a favorite companion?
First on deck is Rose, perhaps the most popular of the current companions. She absorbed the power of the time vortex and is the only companion to consistently travel with two different faces of the Doctor. She is also, in my opinion, the true love of the Doctor in this current run of the show. You really see it in “Bad Wolf” when the Doctor just drops to his knees when he thinks she has died. In fact, the only reason he did not say it was because he got cut off. Rose seemed to have fondness for strays, which leads us to Captain Jack Harkness, who, when we meet him, is set up as almost a romantic rival for the Doctor. Jack also traveled with two different Doctors, and had his own spin-off.
We go from nine to ten, and with ten come new companions and a familiar face. Yes, it is the return of Sara Jane Smith and K-9. With this visit, Rose gets a glimpse of her possible future with the Doctor, and after some prodding from Sara Jane, her ex-boyfriend, Mickey, is now traveling with the Doctor and Rose. After all, to quote Sara Jane, “You need a Smith on board!” His time on the TARDIS is brief, but he is the better for it. While visiting a parallel world, Mickey finds his beloved grandmother still alive. Mickey replaces his double and begins to fight the good fight against the Cybermen of the world.
Rose’s time on the TARDIS comes to a sad end as she becomes trapped on the same parallel world Mickey chose to stay on. Moments after this touching good bye, we meet Donna Noble. She initially turns down the Doctor’s invite to travel, but she will be back. Martha Jones is next. She is seen sadly as a rebound companion following Rose. Martha also had the hardest task of all the companions: she had to go all over the world and tell the story of the Doctor to set up his return. For a year she was on her own. All the elements were there for Martha, and she had some great adventures with Doctor. Unfortunately, due to an unrealized love of the Doctor she left, but not for good.
That brings us back to Donna Noble. She is only in it for the adventure. She has zero romantic interest in the Doctor, but an undeniable comedic chemistry with him. We find out after turning down the Doctor, she regretted it and began to try and track him down. When she does, she is on the ride of her life. She, more than any other companion, pushes him into things he does not want to do and makes him better. Her goodbye is not only sad, but tragic. Due to regeneration and an extra hand, Donna becomes part of a time lord-human crisis that leads to two things happening: the creation of a human Doctor, and Donna becoming part time lord. Like with Rose and the time vortex, this gift is killing her. So the Doctor has to take it away, but not only that, he has to wipe her memory of any trace of him and her time with him.
After ten’s farewells to his friends, we move on to eleven, finishing where I began with the Ponds. Not only do we have the boy and girl who waited, but their daughter Melody aka River Song. Where I see Donna as his best friend, even maybe his better half, the Ponds are his family, literally and figuratively. He married River, and Rory and Amy are his in-laws. This is probably why he could never leave them. Amy may have had a slight crush on the Doctor at the beginning, but her true love was always Rory. They, too, are gone now and waiting in the wings is Jenna-Louise Coleman. Who she is and what her relationship to the Doctor will be is to be determined.
Photo Credit: Mimi-Na